NEWTON – Every set, game, and point mattered in this girls’ tennis semifinal matchup.
After three hours of competitive tennis at Newton South High School, the third-seeded Westborough Rangers emerged victorious over 10th-seeded Notre Dame Hingham, winning 4-1 and advancing to the MIAA Division 2 state finals.
The Notre Dame team was difficult for the Rangers to prepare for. After defeating Sharon – an adversary the team had never played and shared no common opponents with – in the quarterfinals, Westborough dealt with a similar situation this time around.
“We just kept playing,” Head Coach Scott Henderson told the Community Advocate. “We didn’t know what to expect, so we wanted everyone to play their game and be ready for the match.”
The Rangers came out ready, but so did Notre Dame. The fans from both teams held their breath through the first set as competitors fought hard to maintain their razor-thin leads. Once the smoke had cleared, Westborough emerged having won four of the five opening sets, putting them in control of the match.
Mira McLaren, Westborough’s first singles player, fought hard in the first set to top Notre Dame’s Amelia Maw. McLaren and Maw had traded blows throughout the set before McLaren decisively won the tiebreaker.
“It was a lot of back-and-forth; I would win a game, and she would win a game. She’s a really consistent player, so every game was really close,” McLaren said.
The Rangers continued to add to their lead. Isabel Feldman, the third singles player, defeated Notre Dame’s Vivienne LaGrassa in straight sets (7-5, 6-4) to claim Westborough’s first point. Shortly after, Sahasra Kommineni and Nicole Nguyen brought the Rangers’ lead to 2-0, defeating Lily Studebaker and Skye Bunge in the second doubles match (7-5, 6-2).
Despite Westborough’s 2-0 lead, the game was still very much up in the air.
Notre Dame’s seventh-grade standout Sophia Lirio beat Diya Bhattacharya, winning in straight sets (6-2, 6-3), and cutting Westborough’s lead in half.
Westborough began to falter: the Rangers’ first doubles team lost their second set, and Maw had broken McLaren and jumped out 3-0 to start the second set. Westborough needed to win one of the two remaining matches to book their trip to the finals, but nobody was quite sure if they’d manage.
That’s when McLaren came up huge.
McLaren fought back to even the set at 3-3, then fell back behind 6-5, before breaking Maw to knot the score at 6-6. These two players needed another tiebreak to decide the set and possibly the match. Everyone turned their attention to court one.
The players fought hard. Maw, the last person standing between Notre Dame and elimination, utilized her powerful forehand to get McLaren off-balance, but McLaren’s backhand was just as good. After long rallies and grueling points, McLaren capped off her gutsy performance and won the game, set, tiebreak, and match (7-6 (3), 7-6 (6)), securing victory for Westborough.
“It was pretty tense… It was nice to go up… and then we lost one, and then first doubles lost the second set, and then Mira – first singles – really got pushed. She was down and she really battled hard, she clearly won that for us with heart and perseverance,” Henderson said.
If McLaren was nervous, she didn’t show it.
“They’ve been here before – they were nervous, but they knew they had each other’s support and that all we wanted was for them to play hard and play smart and do their best. We just wanted them to do their best, and whatever the outcome is, we would take it,” Henderson explained.
“It’s a really great group of girls. People are really supportive of each other and cheer each other on,” McLaren added.
Elena Chen and Ellie King, the Westborough first doubles team, eventually topped Notre Dame’s Bella LaGrassa and Clara Healey in three sets (6-4, 4-6, 7-5) to bring the final score to 4-1.
The Rangers will meet Masconomet Regional High School in the state final game for the second straight year. Last year, Westborough lost an “absolute heartbreaker,” falling in the match 3-2.
The Rangers are looking for a different outcome this time around.
“We’ll look at last year’s scorebook, and what that’s going to show us is [that] we were in it right until the end. We lost but we could’ve won – it was very close. We just need to get over the top. We are not going to get demolished – it’s going to be tight, and it’s going to come down to whoever plays harder and smarter. Hopefully this year it’s going to be us,” Henderson said.
Masconomet returns all seven starters from last year’s matchup. Westborough returns five.
“We were in the state finals last year, and it was just a really cool environment to play in,” McLaren said. “There are so many people there and obviously it’s cool playing at MIT. I’m really excited for the experience, especially [because] it’s my last tennis match [of my high school career].”
The match is currently scheduled for June 18 – exactly one year since the Rangers’ loss last year – and will be played at MIT’s duPont Tennis Courts. The Westborough boys’ team, who are also in the state finals, will be in action as well.
